Apollo, Iamaphoney and Bill Shepherd

My interpretation of recent events (and events that are not so recent at all) is probably flawed, but I think I need to put a few things out there anyway. There seems to be somewhat of a convergence happening with two very different strands of the Beatles mystery theory. The traditional view that Paul died in a car accident and was replaced by someone who just happened to win a lookalike contest and was quickly taught how to sing and play so effectively that he took over leadership of the greatest rock and roll band of all time just didn't make sense. It would have been easy to attribute the whole "Paul Is Dead" thing to a bunch of overactive imaginations and people with too much time on their hands except for the existence of all of those clues. The clues demanded a more cohesive theory.

Then came the appearance of 60IF, a document allegedly written by George Harrison. This was an alternative to the traditional Paul Is Dead theory, but it had some severe plausibility problems. This unique perspective is chronicled in the discussion group "The King Is Naked" and its related web site.

Then at some point, a new character entered the fray at 60If/TKIN who called himself Apollo. He implied that he was an insider and provided some hints that showed that at the very least, he had the ability to interpret the clues in a way that they had never been interpreted before. Eventually he felt unwelcome at TKIN and started communicating at "Nothing Is Real."

He was much more cautious at NIR, restricting his communication to specific individuals and using personal messages most of the time. I think he made some real friends there. Some of this material made its way into regular posts, and again, at the very least, it seemed that Apollo's insights led to to some compelling interpretations of clues and the discovery of new clues. It was an exciting time for a few people who were convinced that Apollo held the key to the Beatles mystery. Then in late April of this year, a group statement by key members of NIR indicated the member known as Apollo was Beatles confidant and "castle keep" Neil Aspinall. See previous post for details.

I think it is fair to say that several of the people who were enamored with Apollo and were 99% sure or higher that he was in fact Neil Aspinall, were vehemently opposed to Iamaphoney. This rift was responsible for some (not all) of the acrimony that we have seen while attempting to study this mystery.

But now, amidst the weeds in the comments section here and in some other locations, we have the suggestion that Neil Aspinall had at some point annexed the Iamaphoney organization and brought it under the Beatles umbrella. This of course would explain the sudden increase in the quality of the videos and the emergence of fancy editing and professionally done soundtracks that were completely different from the initial Rotten Apple products. It would also explain the disarray in the Iamaphoney camp that started soon after Neil Aspinall died.

The merging of the Apollo camp and the Iamaphoney camp truly would be an "OB-LA-DI OB-LA-DA" (i.e. Wedding from hell).

But let's look at one example where the paths of Apollo and Iamaphoney crossed. I know I have this obsession with Rotten Apple 41, but for me it is the"Sgt. Pepper" of the series.


That still image shows a Beatles knockoff album by Billy Pepper and the Pepperpots. A songwriter credit there is for Bill Shepherd, who plays on the album. A Beatles imitator who also can write Beatles-inspired songs might be a good candidate to replace a Beatle if one is ever needed. Apollo hinted rather strongly that Bill Shepherd contributed to the Beatles musically.

While I was away, I found a used bookstore and came away with this nice item.



According to the cover it is "The True Story of the Beatles as Personally Told to Billy Shepherd." This Bill Shepherd also wrote articles for "The Beatles Book" monthly magazine. (Picture borrowed from Nothing Is Real)



Quoting Apollo from a post in the public section of NIR by LetterB, Billy (Shepherd) was invented by Neil. (nom de plume) I'm not saying Neil is Billy the guy who "maybe is amazed", know what I mean?" I believe this refers to the writer, not the musician.

So, was Bill Shepherd (the musician, not the writer) a replacement (or one of the replacements) for Paul McCartney? One person who would answer that question with a firm "NO" was another NIR member who claimed to be the son of Bill Shepherd. Guitargaz, aka Gary Shepherd insisted that his father not only was a key member and composer for Billy Pepper and the Pepperpots but he also went on to work with the Bee Gees. In fact, the Beatles exploitation band, the Pepperpots, was just one of many musical projects by Bill Shepherd. (Picture borrowed from Nothing Is Real)



The younger Shepherd, whose father is now deceased, promised to provide some pictures of his father, but has not done so as of yet. He did note that the characters on the cover of the Pepperpots LPs were models and had nothing to do with the recordings. Someone at NIR did manage to find a picture of Bill Shepherd of the Bee Gees.



Gary Shepherd said he found out about NIR by doing a Google search for material about his father. At first, I thought the name Bill Shepherd was too common for that to happen, but when I did the search query "Bill Shepherd Pepperpots" in Google, the NIR thread was the first thing on the results list.

Gary Shepherd came across as credible and honest in his posts on NIR, which caused some to question Apollo's assertion that Bill Shepherd worked on Beatles recordings. Apollo's reaction to that confrontation was uncharacteristically livid. I seem to remember the term "douche bag" being used, but that was after a convoluted story about the Mafia became associated with Shepherd. I still have difficulty imagining Neil Aspinall using the term "douche bag" under any circumstances, but I am non-committal on the identity of Apollo.

The bottom line is that both Apollo and Iamaphoney hinted that a musician by the name of Bill Shepherd was a significant character in the Beatles mystery. Apollo is believed dead, but his words continue to reverberate and there is much more out there that he said that has yet to be shared. Iamaphoney has been silent aside from apparent leaks from an organization that seems to be in disarray, but I expect much more from him (them) as well. This is far from over.